For kids' ear infections, drops work better

January 17, 2007|SHARI ROAN Los Angeles Times

It is not easy to apply ear drops to a fussy tot with a raging ear infection. But for kids with ear tubes, antibiotic drops appear to be a vastly superior way to treat infections. Middle-ear infections are the most common diagnosis for which children receive antibiotics, and insertion of ear tubes is the most common surgery performed on children. During this surgery, small tubes are placed in the eardrums to ventilate the area behind the eardrum and to equalize the pressure in the middle ear. Approximately 2 million tubes each year are given to U.S. children with chronic middle-ear infections. A new study of 80 children published online in a recent issue of the journal Pediatrics showed that antibiotic eardrops were more effective than oral antibiotics for middle-ear infections. The drops resolved the ear drainage three to five days faster and resulted in more cures overall -- 85 percent of those using drops compared with 59 percent of those swallowing pill or liquid antibiotics. Ear tubes provide better access to the middle ear so that more of the medicine reaches the infection. "Mom's instinct is that drops are weak, pills are strong," says Dr. Peter Roland, chairman of otolaryngology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. "But the concentration of antibiotic you can get in the ear is so much greater." Previous research suggests that antibiotics in any form aren't too helpful in children without tubes who develop ear infections. Only about 1 in 9 kids benefits, Roland says. Antibiotic eardrops also cause fewer stomach problems and lead to less antibiotic resistance. "The one bad part of it is that kids don't like them," Roland says. "It may be worth warming up the drops before putting them in."